Brewing Ukrainian style beer to donate profits to conflict and enjoying Oshkosh Outdoor Winter Beer Fest

OSHKOSH, Wis. (WBAY) - Saturday afternoon, March 12, Wisconsin brew masters braved the cold in Oshkosh for the fifth annual Outdoor Winter Beer Fest while also saying bottoms up in support of Ukraine.

“We always work together on anything that we need,” Dan Dringoli, owner of Bare Bones Brewery (BBB) who hosted the beer fest, shared. “It doesn’t shock me at all that when problems happen in the Ukraine that everyone is stepping up. That beer is being brewed throughout the world.”

One of Ukraine’s few microbreweries, Ukrainian Brewery Pravda in Lviv, posted these beer recipes online. The hope being breweries around the world would make the Ukrainian style beer and send proceeds back to the nation. Bare Bones Brewery (locations in Oshkosh and Menasha) chose to brew a strong wheat ale. The 8% alcohol beverage is still bubbling in a fermenter and will be ready to drink on March 25.

“It’s not going to be very hoppy or anything like that,” Dringoli explained. “It’s going to be light.”

At $12 a six pack, it costs $6 to make and the other half of each purchase is being sent to the Ukrainian brewery uniting brewers globally who will then disperse the contributions to the humanitarian efforts who need it most. BBB is hoping to donate up to $3,000.

To get a taste of this international fundraiser, you can pre-order by clicking here.

Attendees at the fifth annual Outdoor Winter Beer Fest got first dibs on pre-ordering some of the Ukrainian style beer. With temperatures barely in the double digits, brewers were worried about their lines freezing. Yet, to enjoy the company and the beverages on Saturday afternoon, it was worth it to brave the cold.

“It’s not an easy job let’s say that,” owner and head brewer at Omega Brewing, Steve Zink, emphasized. “It’s demanding, time consuming, but it’s fun. It’s rewarding when you come up with new recipes. The other part of it is that the community and the craft beer industry, the community really comes out for it.”

“Breweries always seem to have a way of working together,” Dringoli highlighted. “They pass ideas and thoughts and they share problems. It’s just a very friendly industry.”

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